Health News Roundup: Pfizer to start shipping coronavirus vaccine to Canada; Post-vaccine COVID infections and deaths rare, UK study finds and more

Reuters reported on Thursday that Pfizer had started shipping doses made at the plant to Mexico, the first time the company has delivered abroad from U.S. facilities after a Trump-era restriction on its vaccine exports expired at the end of March. Biden set to ban most travel to U.S. from India to limit COVID-19 spread U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to impose new travel restrictions on India starting Tuesday in light of the COVID-19 epidemic, barring most non-U.S. citizens from entering the United States, a White House official told Reuters.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. hearing 'huge demand' from around world for vaccine doses - U.S. COVID-19 coordinator

The United States is hearing "huge demand" from countries around the world for vaccines not needed by Americans, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for global COVID-19 response, Gayle Smith, said on Friday. Smith told reporters that Washington hasn't decided yet on the criteria for allocating vaccines, but decisions will be based on the impact they can have on the spread of the virus and where needs are most acute.

Pfizer to start shipping coronavirus vaccine to Canada

Pfizer Inc will next week start supplying Canada with COVID-19 vaccine made in its U.S. plant, a senior official said on Friday, making it the second country to receive doses from the Kalamazoo, Michigan facility. Reuters reported on Thursday that Pfizer had started shipping doses made at the plant to Mexico, the first time the company has delivered abroad from U.S. facilities after a Trump-era restriction on its vaccine exports expired at the end of March.

Biden set to ban most travel to U.S. from India to limit COVID-19 spread

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to impose new travel restrictions on India starting Tuesday in light of the COVID-19 epidemic, barring most non-U.S. citizens from entering the United States, a White House official told Reuters. The new restrictions are on the advice of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and are imposed "in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 case loads and multiple variants circulating in India," the official said. A formal announcement is expected on Friday and the policy will take effect on Tuesday, May 4 at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT).

Vaccine protects COVID-19 survivors against variants; virus' spike protein damages blood vessels

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Vaccine protects COVID-19 survivors against variants

U.S. extends transit face mask requirements through September 13

The Biden administration said on Friday it is extending face mask requirements across all U.S. transportation networks through Sept. 13 to address the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requirements that took effect on Feb. 1 were to set to expire on May 11. They cover workers and travelers at airports, on board commercial aircraft, on over-the-road buses, and on commuter bus and rail systems through Sept. 13.

Exclusive: Some EU nations still want Valneva COVID-19 vaccine deal - sources

Some EU countries still want Brussels to strike a deal to buy Valneva's COVID-19 vaccine candidate despite a recent setback in talks, as the bloc aim to shore up and diversify supplies, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. A spokesman for the European Commission said last week the French vaccine maker had not met conditions required to reach an agreement, two days after the company said it would now give priority to a country by country approach.

West Virginia city takes big three drug distributors to court over opioids

The three largest U.S. drug distributors are facing trial on Monday in West Virginia in a lawsuit accusing them of fueling the opioid crisis that has resulted in 500,000 overdose deaths in the United States over two decades. The suit claims that AmerisourceBergen Corp, McKesson Corp and Cardinal Health Inc ignored red flags that opioids were being diverted to illegal channels, flooding the state with hundreds of millions of highly addictive pills.

Russia records more than 400,000 excess deaths during pandemic -Reuters calculations

Russia recorded more than 400,000 excess deaths from last April to this March during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the state statistics agency published on Friday. Excess death figures, which some epidemiologists say are the best way to measure the true toll from COVID-19 given that counting methods vary between countries, surpass official COVID-19 death figures in many countries.

Post-vaccine COVID infections and deaths rare, UK study finds

A very small number of mainly frail, elderly COVID-19 patients are being hospitalised and dying even after having a first dose of Pfizer's or AstraZeneca's vaccines, but this does not mean the shots aren't working, UK researchers said on Friday. Presenting real-world data on a subset of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the UK, the researchers said the findings showed some level of "vaccine failure" - in other words cases where vaccinated people still become infected and get sick - but that this was "not unexpected."

Overwhelmed India running short of COVID-19 vaccines

Several states in India have run out of vaccines against COVID-19, exacerbating a dire second wave of infections that has left hospitals and morgues overflowing while families scramble for increasingly scarce medicines and oxygen. "Come back to us. How will we live without you?" wailed Aanchal Sharma and her mother-in-law over the lifeless body of her husband, waiting like so many others for their turn at a crematorium on the outskirts of New Delhi.